Preparation: Phase 2 Resources & Tips for the HCG Diet

Many of you are starting a round of HCG diet quite soon or have just begun.

I’ve put together a list of resources that can help you the next 3-6 weeks as your HCG round unfolds for you. You can email me [email protected] with the outcome- I’d love to hear from you!

Sorry there aren’t any cool photos- I love things to be pretty but well…it’s hard to make links to other articles and resources anything more than what they are. It was too painful- I found a way….

And actually isn’t it too true? The opportunity? hCG of course! So all that’s between you and success now is preparation.

Resources for Phase 2

Pounds and Inches – free download of the original book describing the protocol- a must read!

Instagram – I can’t say enough how important support and community is on this protocol. I would not have succeeded without it. If you have a smart phone or tablet and don’t have instagram yet, please sign up and find some hcgers to follow by either looking at my own followers @hcgchica or searching the #hcgdiet #hcgcommunity #hcg hashtags.

Youtube – Same deal. Find hCG youtubers to subscribe to by searching hcg diet 2013 or hcg diet 2014 (soon!), vlcd, p2, phase 2, and other keywords like this- once you find a few that are more current/actively on the protocol, look at those who have commented on their vlogs- they are likely active on p2 or at least active in the hCG community as well- subscribe to them. Then start making your own videos so they can support you as well!

iTunes hCGChica Podcast – Some of my more motivational/supportive videos have an mp3 version on iTunes- I’m a recent podcast listener convert myself- I really enjoy listening to podcasts on different topics while driving in my car.

Buying hCG – Is this a shameless plug for buying the hormone through one of the places on my site? Yup!! Seriously though, I totally respect wherever you end up choosing to purchase your hCG. If you decide one of the 3 companies (offering real prescription hCG only) on my site is the place you do want to order from, going through me costs you nothing more (it’s not hard, it’s just using my links to click thru that’s all) and keeps me in the kale-salad-video-making business. Yay, we both win. I wouldn’t recommend these companies if I didn’t think highly of them. To me it is a good combo of getting real prescription hCG but less expensive because you are able to become a patient online. This is how I lost my own 50+lbs with this weight loss protocol.

MyoTape Body Tape Measure – I love this one because it makes measuring easy since it has a thing on the end to hold it there- I used mine all 5 rounds. I do have the regular sewing type ones and I found it much more difficult to get accurate measurements, especially on legs and arms than with the Myo one.

Digital Food Scale – You really do need to have this to weigh your protein servings on the diet. Mine’s still going strong after 5 rounds!

P2 Eating

Cooking Cautions

Premade Chicken/Beef Stock:

I hate to break it to you, but in my research so far, there are no premade stocks that do not contain MSG in some hidden form.

But wait! You saw several organic free range broths that say “no msg”? Or perhaps, “no added msg”? Or you even looked at the ingredient label and there was no “MSG” to be found? Turns out they are getting sneaky! Other names you might see that’s really MSG: yeast extract, autolyzed yeast….actually the list is so long, you can just check out a well put together article on this topic here and how it is they are able to be so deceptive here. If it says “natural flavors” or “chicken flavor” I’d steer clear for now. Many reports of people using these broths with the only unclear ingredient being “chicken flavor” who had experienced the same symptoms they usually get (ie. migraines etc) from ingesting MSG.

At this point, your best bet is to use just simmer your protein in water for a bit and using just the flavor from the actual meat, perhaps some celery and or onion. With shrimp you can make a lovely stock by boiling just the shrimp shells for a little bit before using the stock to cook with. Here’s a homemade hCG Chicken Stock recipe – careful watch the poultry seasoning though- see my next note on spice mixes.

Spice Mixes:

According to this article, if a spice mix is less than 50% MSG, manufacturers don’t have to put it on the label at all. Crazy!! And you thought you were going mad when you thought you had a gain due to using a spice mix instead of just simple oregano on your chicken- you may not be crazy after all. I couldn’t 100% verify this claim, but I did read it on several sites- just something to be careful about. This diet is only a few weeks long- might as well be extra careful while on it and “splurge” on your fav spice mix later- sad to think of a spice mix as a splurge- something very wrong with that sentence.

Free Recipe Resources

Phase 2 Recipes- using only protocol foods

Some of these mix vegetables- this is a personal choice- the original STRICT protocol required that you not mix vegetables. Many do, including me. Dr. Simeons did not explain why you weren’t supposed to. Here’s my guess. My guess is that Dr. Simeons wanted this diet to be as simple as possible, so he required only the weighing of the protein which is calorie dense enough to require it. Since he didn’t require anyone to eat only a certain amount of the vegetable portions each day, it seems like by limiting it to one kind per meal, this ensured that a person wouldn’t eat too many calories. For example, it’s doubtful you’d scarf down so many cucumbers that the calories added up right- I’ve yet to hear someone cucumber-bingednobody wants to eat that much of one vegetable. However, if you had half a cucumber/several cherry tomatoes/several asparagus/half an onion- this would easily make quite the tasty meal but also cause a person to likely be eating too many calories. So if you DO mix vegetables, do it with mindfulness as to amounts you are eating.

Rogue means that it’s not on the original protocol- it doesn’t mean totally crazy deviations that are certainly not good. Usually the rogue recipes include other vegetables like zucchinni or mushrooms or red bell pepper. Again this is a personal choice. I did my final round including these and other vegetables and I did fine, BUT I also didn’t eat my fruits or melba, and ate more veggies and fage yogurt instead, so I felt the reduction in the carbs from removing the fruit gave me more leeway with the vegetables. DON’T EAT POTATOES lol.

Cucumber Salsa – with this one, you’d want to replace the sour cream with 0% FAGE greek yogurt (keep in mind this is if you choose to use FAGE on the Diet- it is an off protocol thing- the way I used it was to replace one of my fruits with 1/2 cup of the yogurt at times). And obviously no chips!! My idea would be to put it on your protein as a topping- yum!

Paid Recipe Resource

My mom used this cookbook on her last round and said it was a lifesaver- sometimes you find yourself getting SO bored with the food on P2- to be sure, P2 isn’t really a time to be too concerned getting the most enjoyment from your food, BUT, this cookbook has a hundred and fifty 4 & 5 star reviews (and my mom makes 151!).

Shirataki/Miracle Noodles

These are zero calorie noodles- another “rogue” hCG thing to do- however, I have used them almost daily on 3 of my rounds and I feel it didn’t cause any ill effect for me. It made my meals more satisfying and filling, especially used in soups (perfect since it’s winter!)

P2 Liquids/Water Intake

I am VERY fond of drinking out of pint and quart sized canning jars simply because they are so useful for a myriad of things, they’re glass so they get truly clean, and don’t contain harmful stuff that will get into my drink and then into my body. I just heard about this company named Ecojarz making these awesome stainless steel drinking caps and straws for canning jars. They also have silicone caps.

The Big Debate on the hCG Diet – Coconut Oil

The jury is still out if it’s really okay- I’m always looking for living person proof- here’s my current takes with a break down of stats showing why this really can hamper your fat loss on the protocol. Coconut Oil on the hCG Diet- Yay or Nay?

This is GREAT Rayzel! Thank you. It is so helpful to get all this information in one place. Starting the HCG protocol can be intimidating at first and it really helps to get these great tips =) And I am definitely using some of those suggested recipes =)

Livin the lifegirl

Ditto to all you said.. Thank God for Rayzel!! ♥

Lyn

Thanks for all your articles! 3rd day of injections and 1st day of vlcd..Did this diet in 2011 with tremendous results and kept the weight off for a long time. But here I go again:( Wish me luck. Your website will definitely make it much easier this time, keep up the good work! I will keep you updated with my results.

Ashley

Hi Rayzel! I read on another blog that if one is doing a long round, they should skip the injection once a week (but still maintaining the 500 calorie protocol) to avoid immunity. Is this something that you’ve come across before/implemented in your own rounds?

http://hcgchica.com/buy-hcg-injections-worldwide/ HCGChica

Hey @disqus_QRPB3SGtQ3:disqus Yes that is part of the original protocol and in general I did follow it. The background on this is that Dr. Simeons saw SOME patients develop immunity, which was indicated by sudden ravenous hunger on hCG (that was not caused by wrong dose). However, to be honest, neither I, nor other respected hCG coaches like Robin Woodall of weightlossapocalypse.com has seen immunity really happen. So I figure it doesn’t really hurt to go ahead and do the skip shot day, however, if there are some weeks that you don’t skip, there doesn’t seem to be any need to freak out about it. For instance, my final round was meant to be only 3 weeks long, so I didn’t skip a shot those 3 weeks. However, I felt so great, I decided to continue and make it a long round. At that point I did start skipping a shot, but nothing bad happened as a result of not skipping a shot the first 3 weeks. I hope that helps!

Holly Hancock Hook

Rayzel – you are so BOSS! Please help me understand something before I go into p2. I asked for some Eminence “Sugar Plum Whip” facial moisturizer for Christmas because it is on the list of OK for p2 on that ebook “Mac to Mabeleine” . However now I’m looking at the ingredient list, and the third and fourth ingredients are Evening Primrose oil and Carrot Tissue oil! Is there something different about these oils that make them OK for p2? Please help! THANK YOU!!!

http://hcgchica.com/buy-hcg-injections-worldwide/ HCGChica

Hey @hollyhancockhook:disqus cool name girl 😉 I would probably avoid them if possible to be safe- it’s weird the hormone makes our bodies a lot more sensitive to fats and I figure why hurt your chances to have the best round when it’s only for a few weeks you know? Perfect for Phase 3 though!

i’m 5″4′ and 148 and I want to lose 20 pounds. I’m in week 2 and I’m losing 3 pounds a week. I’m not hungry at all it’s great. I’m told that if you don’t have that much to lose it’s going to go slower. Does anyone have experience with this?

http://hcgchica.com/buy-hcg-injections-worldwide/ HCGChica

Hiya @Annie Neal Stamps – yes usually when you are close to goal, weight loss is slower and this really makes sense because a smaller person’s daily metabolic rate- what their body consumes in calories each day, is not THAT high- say maybe between 1700-2500 calories depending on their lifestyle and activity level- we know it takes 3500 calories to burn a lb of fat, plus the 500 calories you are eating day, so technically 4000 calories must be burned to lose a whole lb of actual fat (barring water weight etc). So it sounds like you are doing just right! And no hunger is a good sign- to me means you are on a good dose and will get the best weight loss results possible for you on this particular round with where you are at.

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Disclaimer- PLEASE READ! I am NOT a medical professional in any way, shape or form. I'm simply a mom sharing what has worked for myself and others. Any content on hcgchica.com should not be misconstrued as medical advice. It is your responsibility to speak with your physician about anything medical related.